Rochester, NY Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Section 52-4 of the Municipal Code defines a nuisance broadly to include any building, dwelling, commercial or industrial building, storage building or vacant area that violates the Property Conservation Code, Building Code, Plumbing Code, Fire Prevention Code, Zoning Code, Health Ordinance or Anti-Litter Ordinance, or any other state or local law. It separately lets the Commissioner of Neighborhood and Business Development classify an unoccupied building or structure as abandoned when at least one of four conditions applies: unpaid real property taxes, water or Pure Waters charges; accumulated junk or debris on the property or inside it; unsecured openings; or evidence of rodent infestation.

Section 52-5 lays out the abatement path: the Department serves either a notice and order describing the nuisance and giving the owner a deadline to remove it, or an immediate ticket where a Fire Prevention Code, Property Conservation Code, Building Code, Plumbing Code or Zoning Code violation poses an immediate health or life-safety threat. If the owner does not comply by the deadline, the Department may itself remove, clean, repair or vacate the property and bill the cost to the owner. Owners can request a meeting with the Commissioner before the compliance deadline runs, and where the Commissioner has issued an emergency vacate order, the owner or a tenant can demand a hearing that must be held within three business days.

Where a Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code violation goes uncorrected past the notice deadline, Corporation Counsel can seek escalating civil fines under Executive Law Section 382(2): up to $1,000 per day for the first 180 days, then $25 to $1,000 per day for the next 180 days, then $50 to $1,000 per day after that, plus attorney fees and costs.